Government · Elections
How Taiwan votes: government and elections in the Republic of China
This page explains how Taiwan elects its president, parliament and local leaders, based on the Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan), its Additional Articles and the election laws, and compares the system with other democracies. Numbered links lead to the legal text or an official source. Laws are cited as in force on the official Laws & Regulations Database (checked 19 October 2026). Official English translations exist, but the Chinese text is authoritative.
1. The constitution: a president and five branches
The Constitution creates a president and divides government among five branches called Yuan: the Executive Yuan (the cabinet), the Legislative Yuan (parliament), the Judicial Yuan (courts), the Examination Yuan (civil-service recruitment) and the Control Yuan (impeachment, censure and audit).[1]
Voters
direct vote ↓direct vote ↓
President and Vice President4-year term, one re-election
Legislative Yuan113 seats, 4-year term
appoints ↓↔ accountability, questions, no-confidence
Executive Yuan (premier and cabinet)
nominated by the president, confirmed by the legislature ↓
Judicial YuanConstitutional Court justices
Examination Yuan
Control Yuan
- President: directly elected; the ticket with the most votes wins. Four-year term, one re-election allowed.[2]
- Premier (President of the Executive Yuan): appointed by the president without the legislature's consent. The Executive Yuan is accountable to the Legislative Yuan.[2]
- No-confidence and dissolution: a no-confidence motion against the premier needs signatures from one third of legislators and passes with a majority of all members. The premier must resign within ten days and may ask the president to dissolve the legislature.[2]
- Judicial, Examination and Control Yuan: members are nominated by the president and appointed with the legislature's consent.[2]
How to classify it: a directly elected president appoints the premier, while the cabinet answers to parliament. Political scientists often call this a semi-presidential system. That is an academic label, not a term used in the Constitution.
2. Democratization and constitutional reform
- 1947-01-01The Constitution is promulgated; it takes effect on 25 December 1947.[1]
- 1949-05-20Martial law begins in Taiwan.[9]
- 1950–1951First elections for county magistrates and city mayors (see the county pages).
- 1987-07-15Martial law is lifted.[9]
- 1991-05-01First Additional Articles of the Constitution; seven rounds of amendments follow through 2005.[2]
- 1994-12-03First popular elections for the mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung.[8]
- 1996-03-23First direct presidential election.[8]
- 2005-06-10Seventh amendment: the legislature shrinks to 113 seats under a mixed system with two votes per voter; future amendments require a referendum.[2]
- 2022-11-26First constitutional referendum, on lowering the voting age to 18. About 5.65 million voted yes, short of the required majority of all eligible voters (about 9.62 million), so it failed.[10]
- 2026-11-28“Nine-in-one” local elections: nine kinds of local office are elected on the same day.[11]
3. The electoral system: who is elected, and how
| Office | Term | How seats are won | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|---|
| President and Vice President | 4 years, one re-election[2] | One nationwide race between joint tickets; the ticket with the most votes wins in a single round (plurality)[3] | 40, with at least 15 years of household registration in Taiwan[3] |
| Legislators | 4 years, no term limit[2] | 113 seats: 73 single-member districts; 3 lowland and 3 highland Indigenous seats; 34 national and overseas seats allocated by party vote among parties with at least 5%, with at least half of each party's list women[2] | — |
| Special municipality mayors, county magistrates and city mayors | 4 years, one re-election[5] | Most votes wins (plurality)[4] | 30[4] |
| Local councillors and representatives | 4 years, no term limit[5] | The top vote-getters fill the seats in each district[4] | — |
| Township mayors, Indigenous district chiefs, village and borough chiefs | Set by the Local Government Act[5] | Most votes wins[4] | 26 for township mayors and Indigenous district chiefs[4] |
Local self-government units are the special municipalities, counties and cities, townships, and the mountain Indigenous districts of special municipalities. The province is now an agency of the Executive Yuan and no longer elects a governor.[5] The 2026 “nine-in-one” election holds nine kinds of local election on a single day.[11]
Referendums: a national referendum passes if yes votes outnumber no votes and reach at least one quarter of all eligible voters.[6] A constitutional amendment, after passing the legislature, must be approved in a referendum by more than half of all eligible voters.[2]
4. Who can vote
- Age: 20 for elections[1][4]; 18 for referendums[6].
- Residence: four months' continuous residence in the district for local elections[4]; six months in Taiwan for presidential elections, and citizens living abroad must register and return to vote[3].
- Where: at the polling station of the voter's household registration. There is no postal or absentee voting.[3]
- How: universal, equal, direct and secret ballot.[1] Elections are run by the Central Election Commission (CEC).[8]
- Poll blackout: from ten days before election day until voting ends, no one may publish, report, circulate, comment on or cite election polls.[4]
5. Comparison with other democracies
| Country | System | How the head of government is chosen | Parliament (lower house) | Voting age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | President plus cabinet (often called semi-presidential) | President directly elected by plurality in one round; the president appoints the premier[2] | Legislative Yuan, 113 seats; district and party-list seats are counted separately[2] | 20 (18 for referendums) |
| United States | Presidential | Electoral College of 538 votes; 270 needed to win; no one may be elected president more than twice[12][13] | House of Representatives, 435 seats, 2-year terms, one member per district[14] | 18[13] |
| France | Semi-presidential | President directly elected; an absolute majority is needed in the first round, otherwise the top two meet in a runoff; 5-year term, one re-election[15] | National Assembly, 577 seats, one member per district, two rounds[16] | 18[17] |
| United Kingdom | Parliamentary | The Prime Minister is the leader able to command a majority in the House of Commons (constitutional convention) | House of Commons, 650 seats, first past the post, usually every 5 years[18] | 18[18] |
| Germany | Parliamentary | The Federal President is elected by the Federal Convention; the Chancellor is elected by the Bundestag[19] | Bundestag, 630 seats; two votes each, seats allocated by the second (party) vote with a 5% threshold[20] | 18[19] |
| Japan | Parliamentary | The Prime Minister is designated by the Diet from among its members[21] | House of Representatives, 465 seats: 289 single-member districts and 176 proportional seats[22] | 18[23] |
What stands out in Taiwan
- Plurality presidential vote: unlike France, there is no majority requirement or runoff, and unlike the US there is no electoral college. The ticket with the most votes nationwide wins.
- A parliament like Japan's: district and party-list seats are counted separately, whereas Germany uses the party vote to set each party's total.
- A higher voting age: every other country in the table votes at 18; Taiwan's elections still require 20, after the 2022 amendment to lower it failed.
- Voting at home: there is no postal voting, so many voters travel back to their registered hometown on election day.
References
Taiwanese laws are linked to the official Chinese text; the database also offers English translations.
- Government Laws & Regulations Database: Constitution of the Republic of China (Arts. 53, 62, 77, 83, 90, 129, 130)
https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=A0000001 - Government Laws & Regulations Database: Additional Articles of the Constitution (Arts. 2–7, 12; amended 2005-06-10)
https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=A0000002 - Government Laws & Regulations Database: Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (Arts. 11–13, 20, 63)
https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0020053 - Government Laws & Regulations Database: Public Officials Election and Recall Act (Arts. 2, 14, 15, 24, 53, 67)
https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0020010 - Government Laws & Regulations Database: Local Government Act (Arts. 2, 14, 33, 55, 56, 83-2)
https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=A0040003 - Government Laws & Regulations Database: Referendum Act (Arts. 7, 29)
https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0020050 - Government Central Election Commission
https://web.cec.gov.tw/english - Government Central Election Commission election database (dates and results)
https://db.cec.gov.tw/ - Government Executive Yuan meeting record: martial law (20 May 1949 – 14 July 1987) and its lifting (in Chinese)
https://www.ey.gov.tw/Page/4EC2394BE4EE9DD0/874a6b6a-c7e3-4acf-89d6-d3d7caaf6212 - News media Taiwan News: referendum on lowering the voting age fails (26 Nov 2022, in Chinese)
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/zh/news/4732968 - News media Central News Agency: CEC announces the nine-in-one elections (20 Aug 2026, in Chinese)
https://cna.com.tw/news/aipl/202608200078.aspx - Government USAGov: Electoral College
https://www.usa.gov/electoral-college - Government U.S. National Archives: Constitutional Amendments 11–27 (22nd: term limit; 26th: voting age)
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27 - Government U.S. House of Representatives: The House Explained
https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained - Government info.gouv.fr: Comment se déroule une élection présidentielle en France ?
https://www.info.gouv.fr/actualite/comment-se-deroule-une-election-presidentielle-en-france - Government Assemblée nationale: Fiche 3 – Élection des députés
https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/contenu/telechargement/625543/ - Government Service-Public.fr: Listes électorales (who can vote)
https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1367 - Government GOV.UK: General election
https://www.gov.uk/elections-in-the-uk/general-election - Government German Federal Ministry of Justice: Basic Law (Arts. 38, 54, 63, English translation)
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.html - Government Federal Returning Officer (Bundeswahlleiterin): Electoral systems
https://bundeswahlleiterin.de/en/service/glossar/w/wahlsysteme.html - Government Prime Minister's Office of Japan: The Cabinet System (Constitution Art. 67)
https://japan.kantei.go.jp/cabinet_system/3-1.html - Government Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: 選挙の種類 (types of election, in Japanese)
https://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/naruhodo/naruhodo03.html - Government Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: 選挙権と被選挙権 (voting rights, in Japanese)
https://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/naruhodo/naruhodo02.html
This is a general summary, not legal advice; the current text on the Laws & Regulations Database prevails. To report an error, see the About page.